Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/370

366 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. a man to obtain a glory that shall not be obscured with some cloud or other of ill-will, yet I believe there are some methods to be taken that there shall be but very little of enmity mixed with it. Sy. Shall I tell you what those methods are 1 Ph. I should be very glad to know them. Sy. Shew your virtue but sparingly, and you shall be the less troubled with envy. Ph. But glory is no glory unless it be notable. Sy. Well, 1 will tell you a sure way, do some noble exploit and die, and then you shall be renowned without envy, as the Codri, the Iphigenii, the Decii, and Ourtii were.

Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit. " Envy is maintained among the living, but ceases after death."

Ph. Indeed, to confess ingenuously, I would leave the inheritance of a good name to my children and grandchildren, but I would have some enjoyment of it myself while I am alive. Sy. "Well, come, I will not keep you any longer in suspense. The surest way to obtain an illustrious name is to deserve well, as well in a private capacity of every particular person as in a public capacity of the whole community, and that is to be done partly by good offices and partly by bounty. But bounty is so to be moderated as not to be obliged to take away forcibly from one what you bestow upon another; for from such bounty as this there arises more ill-will from the good than good- will from the bad. And besides, to be commended by the bad is rather an infamy than a reputation. Moreover, the fountain of bounty will be drawn dry by frequent donations; but that bounty that consists in good offices has no bottom ; the more it is drawn the more it springs. But there are a great many things that mitigate envy and illustrate glory, which nobody can give to himself, but they happen purely from the bounty of God himself.

Gratior est pulchro veniens e corpore virtus. " That virtue is the more lovely that comes from a beautiful body."

But no man can bestow upon himself comeliness of person. No- bility carries along with it much of dignity, but this is the gift of fortune. The same opinion we ought to have of riches, which, being justly got by grandfathers or great-grandfathers, descend to xis by inheritance. Nor can any one bestow this upon himself. Of the same kind are quickness of wit, a grace in speaking, pleasantness and cour- teousness that is not acquired, but inbred ; and in the last place, a certain internal beauty and felicity, the effect of which we see daily in a great many, but can give no reason of it ; so that we often see the same things to be said and done by different persons, and he that acted and said the worst obtained favour, when he who did and said best, instead of thanks gained ill-will. The ancients, indeed, ascribed this effect to men's genius ; for they said that every one was fortunate in that which he was born to ; and, on the other hand, whatsoever any one attempted against the grain, and the consent of his genius, would never succeed. Ph. Then, here is no room for advice in this case.

Sy. Very little. But yet persons of penetration do discover in children and youth some secret marks by which they can conjecture what studies, what sort of life, and what actions they are fitted for. So